Target:

Key Measure

Explanatory Comments

The number of victim reported offences recorded per 1,000 population has steadily declined since the 2002–03 baseline year. In 2002–03, the victim reported crime rate was 135.3 offences per 1,000 population. In 2013–14, the rate had declined to 68.2 victim reported offences per 1,000 population, substantially lower than the target of 83.9 offences per 1,000 population to be reached by 2014.

Since the 2012 Progress Report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revised historical population figures, changing the previously published figures for this target. The 2002-03 baseline figure has been revised from 134.8 to 135.3 offences per 1,000 population and the target has been revised from 83.6 to 83.9 offences per 1,000 population; consistent with achieving a 38% reduction.

The measure used for this target is the rate of victim reported crime, which is a better indicator of community safety than the total number of criminal offences recorded (where an increase could simply be due to an increase in proactive measures by police).